


How To Make a 'Bad Boy' Blush

by imstillprettyodd



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Awkwardness, F/M, Young Love, people being cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-09-12 13:04:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9072892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imstillprettyodd/pseuds/imstillprettyodd
Summary: Sure, Butch knows how to flirt and how to be a tease, but when his childhood punching bag comes back with the hots for him, he isn't quite sure what to do. Written for a good friend of mine. Riley is her Lone Wanderer.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pepperthepeppa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepperthepeppa/gifts).



Riley drags herself into the Muddy Rudder, exhausted and parched from the long walk back to Rivet City. She's irritated, but she doesn't show it when she smiles at the waitress and pays for her Nuka-Cola. Dogmeat waddles over to her and lays his head on her thigh, looking up at her with sad eyes.  
  
"Are you selling any food?" Riley asks the waitress.  
  
"Only radroach meat." The waitress mumbles as she wipes a glass.  
  
"I'll take a slab." It's offered to Riley on a plate and she picks it off and hands it to Dogmeat who gladly inhales it. Riley smiles at him, rubbing the fur between his ears.  
  
It's good to be back in a civilized place she decides, and after the confrontation with her, now former, best friend, she's thankful for the Nuka Cola bubbles that tickle her throat.

All of a sudden, she feels a hand clap onto her shoulder and she spins on her stool in fright. She's ready to say, "You scared the life out of me," but when she sees Butch DeLoria's face, she grins wide and wraps her arm tight around his neck.  
  
"You're gonna choke the life out of me, girl," Butch warns as he tries to pull out of her grasp.  
  
"Oh my god! How did you trek all the way across the Wasteland by yourself, Butch?" Riley asks after she lets him go and asks him to sit with her.

"A whiskey for me and the bestest girl in the whole world," he tells the waitress.  
  
"Uh, no thanks, alcohol isn't my thing."

Butch shrugs and holds up only one finger this time. "Now what were you saying? Oh wait, yeah. What do you mean by that? You don't think I'm tough enough?"  
  
"No, no." And upon seeing Butch's hurt face as he holds the glass of whiskey between his hands, Riley bursts, "I mean no, that's not what I think! I think you're very tough."

"I guess." He sips his alcohol. And like nothing happened he continues, "So where you staying?" He seems mellow now, with sad eyes and no grin. He picks at a hangnail on his thumb.

Riley plays with her unruly red curls, twisting them around her finger until the skin turns purple and then unwinding them. "In Megaton," she tells him. "That place that sits almost right outside the vault. Do you know the one I'm talking about?"

"Yeah, I know it. Maybe I could, well I don't know, crash at your place?"

"I'd love that!" Riley lights up, almost toppling the glasses on the counter in her excitement. And then her shoulders fall and she looks up at Butch. "But Megaton is all the way across the wasteland. Half way across it, I guess. I just got here."

"I didn't say we had to leave now." Butch huffs and presses the glass to his lips, like a pacifier.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course, sorry. I've just been so caught up lately. With coming back to the vault and then being told to leave it. It's just all ugh." Riley waves her hands around when she speaks, periodically looking at Butch to see if he's still listening.

"Man, sometimes you blab too much, Riley. Am I gonna have to tell you to can it?" He's smiling when he says this, showing his crooked front teeth.

"What? You're the blabbermouth!" There was a bark, as if in agreement.

Butch looked down to see a dirty mutt staring back up at him, big brown eyes glossy.

"Whose smelly bag of fleas is this?" Butch scoffs.  
  
"He's mine," Riley reaches down to pet Dogmeat between the ears. "He's no bag of fleas. He's a good boy, aren't you Dogmeat?" The dog wags his tail and barks, pushing past Butch's knees to get closer to Riley.

"Dogmeat? What kind of name is that for a dog?" Butch crinkles his nose.

"Oh, I didn't name him that. It was on his collar."

"Oh, I'm sure. Man, he's really stinkin' up the place. But whatever. Where you going now?"

"Nowhere, I'm staying here. I think I need to get some Stims, maybe a new gun. And I've got all this junk from wandering everywhere." Riley lifts her heavy bag to show Butch.

"Oh, well, I ain't got no where to go. I think I'm gonna stay in the extra room here." Butch looks off at the wall and takes a sip of his whiskey.  
  
"Here? I mean, maybe I can get you a hotel room. If you want."

"Really?" Butch turns in his seat and grins wide. "Damn, Riley, you just keep getting better."

 


	2. Two

"And then this friggin' radroach jumps right out from behind a rock, right out after I killed that raider. Like it was tryna come for me or somethin'. It had it out for me. Hey, wait, you even listenin', Riley?

"What? Hold on, Dogmeat smells something." Riley's brows furrow as she stares at her sniffing dog. He starts to chase after the smell on the dirt and she follows, yanking Butch along.

"Man, what does the mutt want now? I was tryna tell a story." Butch almost trips on his feet as he tries to catch up with an excited Riley and Dogmeat.

They pass a cliff and Riley's Geiger counter begins to tick. She reaches into her pocket and pops a pill of Rad-X, handing one to Butch. "Let's be careful around here," she tells him. She takes her plasma pistol from her hip and stays close to the rocks. Her eyes are still trained on Dogmeat, who has led them toward a crater teeming with radiation.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Now what the hell was that?" Butch's voice rises into a shriek. "Did you hear that? That sounded like them zombies in those Pre-War holotapes!" A feral ghoul runs up from the edge of the crater, growling and chasing them. A scream falls from Butch's mouth and he turns to run far from the crater.

"Wait! Butch!" But Dogmeat is already attacking the feral ghoul and Riley has to go help. She aims her pistol at the skeletal enemy, praying that she won't miss. She does, but she pulls the trigger again, hitting the feral in the head, watching as it falls from the rest of the feral's body. She rushes to Dogmeat, petting his fur, checking for wounds. She looks up to see Butch cowering by a rock, his eyes wide.

"You okay?" Riley shouts at him

"Yeah, I guess." He shouts back. "Can we just head for Megaton?"

"Yeah."

* * *

When Butch steps through the metal doors of Megaton, his eyes widen. "Woah, look at that, they've just got a giant bomb in the middle!"

"Yeah, and," Riley's face warms. "I disarmed it too."

But Butch doesn't seem too interested in Riley's accomplishments. He goes straight to the first person he sees and asks them where they're bar is. And before Riley knows it, Butch is marching up to Moriarty's. She follows him.

"All you do is drink, huh?" She's joking, but Butch turns around and scowls.

"You ain't got no right to be judgin' me."

Riley raises her brows. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

Butch grunts, "Whatever. I just need a whiskey."

Riley opens the door for him and looks at her feet. "I think you'll like everyone in here. They're all really nice, well, except for Moriarty." She mumbles to him, peeking from underneath her curls to see if he's gone through the door. He's disappeared already, so she goes in after.

"What the hell? Riley, it's one of them zombie things!" Riley enters Moriarty's to see Butch backing up, all the while pointing at Gob.

"Butch, that's Gob. He's not a feral ghoul, he's just a ghoul. Gob, this is Butch."

"Please don't hurt me," Gob mumbles from behind the counter.

"He won't, I promise." Riley assures the ghoul, dragging Butch by his sleeve to sit him at the counter. But the boy's looking at other things.

"You didn't tell me you had any other friends, Riley." Nova gives her signature sultry smile to Butch, who's just about sweating in his seat.

"I'm Butch," he can barely get out. Nova laughs.

"He's a funny one," she tells Riley.

And then from the back room all of them hear an Irishman's voice. "Listen, kiddy, I run a bar, not a post office. Come pick up these letters that you've been getting."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally forgot that you have to do the Waters of Life before this. That changes some things.


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO, I feel so bad, but I just haven't been able to work on this. I've been working on my other piece, so all I want to say is that updates won't be regular. I hope you enjoy this chapter anyways guys, thanks for loving this as much as I love these two!

Moriarty hands Riley a yellowing envelope. She knows who it's from: Mr. Burke. She gags as she tears the paper open. 

"You sure are popular ever since you got out of the vault. Funny how that works." Butch is leaning over Riley's shoulder, examining the writing. "'Little bird'? Oh my god, who does this man think he is? No girl wants a guy to call her 'little bird.' Butch scowls, but still continues to read on.

Nova shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know...it seems kind of sweet to me."

Butch ignores her and turns to Riley. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

She crumples up the letter in her hand and asks Gob to dump it in the trashcan behind the counter. "I won't do anything."

"What!" Butch tosses his hands up in the air. "You can't do nothing! You gotta show him you ain't havin' any of it."

Nova blows smoke from a recently lit cigarette and smiles lazily at Butch. "She's showing him by not responding. That's how women do it."

Moriarty disappears into his backroom and the bar begins to fill. Gob's busy filling patron's glasses. Riley turns on her stool to look at Butch.

"You want to head back to my house?" She asks.

"You already have your own house? You're big out here, Ri."

Riley looks at the counter and tries to hide her smile at the use of the nickname. "I thought I already told you that..."

Butch sighs and brushes off his jacket. "Let's go see this place."

Riley rises and leads him out the door of the bar and into the lit-up city of Megaton. She breathes in and points down from the walkway at a small hut. "Smells like the Stahls are cooking something good, wanna eat?"

Butch leans over to stare at the diner also and scoffs. "There? Nah. There ain't anywhere else around here where they sell good food? Like Fancy Lads or something?"

Riley laughs and shakes her head, starting to descend the platform to go down to her home. "That's junk food. They have good stuff like Brahmin steak there."

"You mean you cook those two-headed things and eat them!" Butch raised his brows, mouth in a scowl, and stared down at Riley.

"We eat squirrels too," she winked at him. Butch made a gagging noise and ran after Riley, telling her to wait up and shooting questions at her as they walked over the rickety metal sheets paving the walkways of the city.

"Well, yeah, you have to worry about radiation, but it isn't too bad," Riley told him as she unlocked the door to her home. She opened it and smiled back at Butch. "Well this is it." She let her arms fall at her sides once Butch closed the door behind them both.

"It ain't much," Butch said under his breath.

"Hey, I really tried, you know..." Her voice faded and she fell into the big green chair in her living room.

Wadsworth hovered down the stairs and greeted her, "Good afternoon, miss. I see you have company."

"Woah! He looks just like Andy from the vault. Except he ain't trying to cut everybody up!" Butch looked up at the floating Mr. Handy, who only waited for Riley's response.

She was working on untying her boots when she asked Wadsworth for a water. Butch went to investigate the upstairs and everything seemed to slow.


	4. Four

Riley finds a crushed can of potato chips under her pillow when she wakes up in the morning and groans as she slips it out.

"That's gross," she mutters, a stream of dried spit coming from the corner of her mouth. She throws the can in the trash and yawns. She tries to run a hand through the matted mess of curls on her head, but gives up and ties the hair in bun.

She changes into her clothes and opens the door, immediately bombarded by the smell of something very disgusting cooking.

"Dogmeat?" She calls from the top of the stairs. The dog's nails scrape on the metal as he bounds up to meet her. She kneels and scratches the fur between his ears. "Hey boy, what's going on downstairs?"

As if to answer, he leaves Riley's side and almost crashes into the small makeshift kitchen.

Riley follows and the smell becomes even more pungent. She slowly pushes the kitchen door open.

"Hey," Butch smiles sheepishly at her, looking like he's just been caught stealing. He holds a spoon which he uses to stir the mysterious dish. His other hand is running through his hair. He laughs nervously. "I--uh, I couldn't sleep all night, so I decided to cook, ya know? Didn't really turn out the way I wanted."

"Butch...what did you put in there?" She sighs and walks over, lifting up an empty package of Salisbury Steak. She grimaces and holds it out, away from her.

"You didn't have any breakfast stuff, I found that in your fridge," he juts his thumb at the package.

"I think this is rotten."

Butch huffs and stops stirring. He turns to look at her. "Okay, well how am I supposed to know that? Everything out here is 200 years over its expiration date" And before Riley can tell him it's alright, he pours the whatever-it-was into the sink. And then he turns on her, eyebrows pressed tight together. "And goddamn, Riley, do you look terrible." He storms up the stairs and bangs some doors. He storms back down. "I'm sleeping on the couch!"

Riley looks down at her dog and sighs. "He hasn't changed in the least." She picks up the discarded trash and pans and feeds Dogmeat the meaty bits of stew that won't go down the drain.

* * *

 

By the time Butch wakes up, it's noon and Riley has already bought the two of them lunch from down at the Brass Lantern.

She sits across from him on her green chair. She hands him his food and can't help but stare at his shoe-less feet haphazardly placed on her coffee table. His socks are grimy, covered in dirt stains, and there's even a hole in the heel. Her own socks don't even look that bad.

"Hey, this is good," he tells her, food almost flying from his mouth as he speaks.

"Yeah, I love that place. Do you feel better?"

"Heh, yeah. Sorry about that this morning." He scratches the back of his neck and looks away. "But anyways, I forgot to ask when I found you on that old boat. Did you find the doc?" 

Riley pales and her hand goes limp around her fork. She's staring at the table when Butch waves a hand in front of her face. 

"Hey, anyone home in there? You got this blank look in your eyes."

She shakes her head and touches her forehead. "Gosh, I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah I found him."

"That's really great. I kinda missed him, even if he was _your_ dad. So, where is he now?"

Butch looks up after a while of Riley not answering. Her face is slowly transforming into a frown and her eyes are becoming glassy. She stares down at her hands, wringing them over and over again. 

"He, um, well..."

"Well what? You're acting like he killed someone. No, no don't tell me, he turned bad. He's one of them raiders now, isn't he?" 

"No, Butch. He--" Riley breaks down, her head collapsing into her hands, body heaving as she sobs. "He died trying to save me, the whole wasteland."

There's a silence except for Riley's cries. Butch raises his hand, wanting to reach for the girl to comfort her. "Damn, Ri, I didn't even know. I'm sorry." 

It takes her awhile to calm down as Butch leans over the table to rub her back. He swallows awkwardly and feels like he should say something. 

"I'm sorry," she looks up, eyes red. Curls of hair fall into her wet face. 

"Yeah, it's alright. Anyways, uh, I heard you've met the Brotherhood. You know, those big guys with the armor." 

"I've met them. What about them?" She wipes her face on her sleeve and runs her hand over her skin. 

"I mean like didn't they recruit you or something? I wasn't really paying much attention, but on that radio station, they're talking about how you're gonna help them."

"Well, I'm helping my dad. I'm going to finish what he started, but I need the Brotherhood of Steel to help me." Riley stands, dusts off her jumpsuit, and picks up her and Butch's plate. 

"You know, I was thinking, maybe we could keep this goin' a little while longer. I mean our adventures if that's what you wanna call them." He's quick to catch himself. Riley turns as if she isn't listening and goes up the stairs. Butch and Dogmeat follow.

"And you know," Butch continues. "I think I could help you out with that Brotherhood stuff. I know I'm not that smart or anything like those old tests we took in Mr. Brotch's class said, but you know I'm good as hell with a switch."

Riley picks up her bag from a closet and hands Butch an old 10mm. "I have some people to save from Super Mutants," is all she says as she whistles for Dogmeat to come to the back door.

Butch practically jumps out of his leather jacket. "Aww hell yes, Riley! We're gonna take the Wasteland by storm! That's exactly what I need right now. And hey," he touches her shoulder, broad smile on his face. "Brighten up."


	5. Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I just decided to rewrite this chapter, that's all.

After buying several rounds of ammunition and strapping her sledgehammer on her back, Riley leaves Megaton with Butch and Dogmeat following. She offers a cold, purified water to the beggar outside the city, touching his back and muttering, "drink slow, don't hurt yourself." 

Butch watches from the entrance, watching her dog lap up the fallen water from the ground. Riley smiles at the man and pats Dogmeat on the head, pushing him along. Butch pads down the slope to join them as they progress toward the road.

"Humph, goody-two-shoes," Butch tells her, brushing his shoulder with hers as he walks beside her."

"What do you mean?" Her hair is now in a ponytail, almost every strand out of her face.

"You gave that guy water. You coulda used that for yourself. Or you could've given it to me..." 

Riley turns to him, stops, and puts her hands on her hips. "I already have a lot. A lot of water, food, protection. All that man has is his voice to ask, to beg. It's my duty to give."

"I mean, I guess." Butch adjusts his jacket and walks ahead, past Riley. 

"I know you don't really care," Riley sighs. And speeds up her pace as they travel North. 

* * *

"Ugh, mole rats..." Riley groans, pulling her sledge hammer from the pulpy mess of what once was an animal. 

"We almost there?" Butch pokes at the buttons on his Pip-Boy. 

"Yeah, we've already passed Big Town and everything. Only a few to the Police Headquarter." Her gaze drops to Dogmeat and she pulls gently on his ear. "You okay, bud?"

"I am, thanks," Butch yawns. 

"I was asking Dogmeat." But her voice fades as they meet a small river. She looks over her shoulder at Butch. "You wanna cross? They're might be 'Lurks though."

"What the hell are 'Lurks?" Butch wrinkles his nose and his hands fly up. 

"Mirelurks. They're not too bad, but you gotta shoot them in the face. They taste really good though. Maybe if we find one, we could take some meat and cook it up." She's already wading into the radioactive water, Dogmeat swimming along, head above the surface. 

"Oh god." Butch stares into the water. "That's just nasty." It's brown and he's sure there's gotta be something crazy and all irradiated in there. 

"What'cha waiting for?!" Riley calls from the other side. She gestures him across.

"Ain't there some other way around?" The toes of his boots barely touch the river. 

"It will take us longer. Do I have to come back in and get you?" She opens her hands and starts to come back to the edge of the water.

"No, no, don't, I got it!" The water's at his ankles when he sucks in a breath and rushes across, splashing the murky stuff on his jumpsuit. He breathes heavily on the sand and smiles at Riley like nothing happened. "Let's go."

Their boots crunch over the gravel as they close in on the Germantown Police HQ. 

"Dang, stocked full of Super Mutants." Riley crouches down behind a rock.

"Oh lord, not these things. Look at their mouths..." Butch points at two winding through the chain-link fence. 

Riley doesn't say anything as she moves closer, plasma pistol in her hand. "Don't use your switchblade, yeah?" 

Butch immediately slips it away into the pocket of his jacket and takes the 10mm out. 

And then, the first shot is fired from a hunting rifle held by a super mutant. Riley fires back, sticking out her tongue as she aims. She runs along the fence, into it, and crouches behind a large box. 

"Hey, I'm coming to help," Butch yells as he runs after her.

Riley pats Dogmeat on the head and he launches himself at a heavily armored brute. Riley dispenses a whole plasma cartridge into the mutant's face. 

"Dammit, this thing keeps jamming, Riley!" Butch struggles with the gun. His eyes widen as a bullet screams past his face. He ducks down. 

"We'll get you a new one in Rivet City!"

"We're going back there? Hell yes." He rushes to cover beside her, watching the brute turn to goo and her eyes set on another enemy. 

The last mutant falls by Butch's hand and he grins. He rises from his cover and runs over to see what he's done. "Hah! You mess with the Tunnel Snakes, you get the fangs!" He kicks the dead body and Riley frowns. But Butch doesn't notice, he's already trying the doors. 

"Damn, locked," he mutters. 

"I know. We gotta go upstairs, come on." 

A dusty smell fills their noises once they enter the dark building. Light filters through the windows, but Riley still turns on her Pip-Boy light, holding her wrist up to see around. 

"Oh god, radroaches." Butch peers into an adjoining room and fires a bullet into the three sitting in the darkness. 

"Butch!" Riley whispers between her teeth. Her green eyes are wide, staring him down. 

"What?" But then he hears the mutants two rooms away talking to each other. "Oh. Uh, sorry." 

Riley wants to be irritated but she just pats him on the shoulder, sends Dogmeat ahead of her, and hurries after him.

Butch can hear the gunshots ahead of him and he groans, the gun limp as he shuffles towards them.

By the time he gets there, through, Riley and her dog have already taken out the mutants. 

"Hey, you..." 

"Let's get out of here as soon as possible." She huffs as she passes him and opens the door to the stairs. 

"Right." He nods emphatically to himself. "You know, I thought I was supposed to be leading this whole thing. I founded the Snakes after all." 

"But I've been out in the Wastes for longer. That makes me in charge. Now, shush, I need to concentrate."

He huffs and wants to say something, but keeps his lips zipped. Butch watches their shadows in the green light, wavering as they pass along the stairs. He looks up as Riley pushes the door open. There's dried blood under her feet, leading through the door. He grimaces.

The halls are like a maze, but soon they come across a giant brute, all decked out with metal armor. Butch goes with his first instinct, jumping behind one of the desks and pulling Riley with him. 

His eyes don't leave the mutant for a second until it lumbers around the corner of the cubicle and begins firing. Dogmeat bites the beast in the leg, but gets a pounding because of it. The dog scurries away, whining from the pain. And that's when Riley jerks herself up from her crouch, muscles prominent under jumpsuit, and practically rips the sledgehammer from its hook on her back. She slams it into the green skin of the mutant, pounding as it flails its arms and yells. 

"Nobody," the metal head of her weapon slams into muscle, "hurts my dog." The giant figure crumbles onto the floor and Riley's hands shake. In fact, her whole body is shaking. Her green eyes slide around the room and land on Butch in his cover under the desk. 

Her breathing's hard and she doesn't say anything, just stares at the hands propping him up and his wide blue eyes. There's blood all over her and her whole body seems like its going to fall apart. She drops the weapon on the ground with a noise the reverberates through the room and wanders toward the doorway. 

"You alright? Yeah, you're alright. We're alright. I won't let anything bad happen to you. Here, this will make you feel better, bud." Riley's soft voice is even softer as Butch imagines her kneeling down to pet Dogmeat and give him a Stimpak. He turns the corner and peeps out at the two: Riley clutching Dogmeat, Dogmeat licking himself and her face. 

He doesn't want to interrupt them, so he leans down to pick up the sledgehammer. Something else on the ground sticks out to him, a shiny metal key that maybe once was inside the now-dead brute's pockets. 

"Hey, you ready? Oh great, you found the key. He must've been the one guarding the cells." Butch looks up over his shoulder, to see a perfectly fine Riley with a smile on her face. 

"Yeah. Let's go, uh, save those guys." He wipes the key on his pants to get off any mess that may still be on it and they head down the dark corridor.

"Hey, did you come to save me?" A voice asks as they pass over the threshold into a room with many holding cells.

"Are you Red?" Riley asks, stepping closer.

"That's me, yeah. Can you get me outta here?" The voice replies.

"Of course." She turns and reaches out her hand towards Butch. He reacts quickly, putting the key in her palm and watching as she moves toward the cell and unlocks the door. 

"Oh my god, thank you," the girl in the red jumpsuit breathes as she steps out from the cell. "I was so scared I thought they were going to eat me alive." 

"You're safe, now." Riley tells her and offers her refuge in her arms. She smiles as the girl clings onto her. 

"It's been awhile since I've seen another human being." The girl holds on tight to Riley, who stands there, rubbing the back of her jumpsuit. 

Butch is off by the doorway, watching the scene go down, and feeling something odd in his stomach when he looks at Riley's hair falling into her face and the sweetness in her smile. 


	6. Six

The two girls talk as they walk back toward Big Town. 

"So you had to move out when you turned sixteen?" Riley asks. She fixes the jamming laser pistol she had given Red. 

"Yeah, it's the rules. And they tell us that Big Town is this great big place and that it's cool to be grownup, but it's not really. It's scary." 

"I know how you feel," and then Riley clears her throat. "Come on, it's almost dark." 

Before Butch knows it, they're trotting ahead without him. He sighs loudly and starts into a run. 

* * *

"Oh my god! You've actually found her. And you're alive!" The residents of Big Town smile and cheer when they three of them, plus Dogmeat, arrive back from the police headquarters. 

"I didn't think I was gonna make it back," Red says, eyes wide. 

Butch yawns at her drama and stretches his arms above his head. All he needs right now is a good rest. He looks over at Riley under the moonlight. She's smiling at the kids. She's just barely older than them. They both are. Butch's gaze makes her turn to him and walk over. 

"We did it!" She grins. She's tired too. Her muscles hurt and she just wants to lay in her soft bed back home in Megaton. But didn't she promise to take Butch to Rivet City? 

"Heh, yeah we did." 

The man who guards the bridge into Big Town comes running up to them. "We've got trouble. I spotted four more super mutants headed our way. Can you stay and help us?" 

"No," Butch immediately says, earning a hit in the side from Riley's elbow. "Ow," he mumbles, looking at her. 

"Of course we can." And then she raises her voice. "Everyone, stay behind us." The kids all follow suit, staying behind Riley and Butch. 

Butch wants to curse, to say something. What if they don't kill those super mutants and save the town. Everyone will be mad at them then. He gets into what he thinks is his fighting stance and reloads his pistol. His feet are placed with one in the front and one in the back. He takes a toothpick from his pocket and places it between his teeth, just like he used to do when him and the Snakes got ready to rumble. And rumbling involved shoving into Riley and her little friend Amata, who turned out to be just like her dad, a stinking, lying, no-good square. 

Riley shoves him. "We got this, just like in the police station, yeah?" 

He nods, breathes. "Yeah."

Two of those lumbering mutants turn the corner of the street and begin shooting just as they see them. 

"Die, humans!" One of them shouts. But Butch and Riley leave their words in the back of their minds as they aim and take out one. But then another throws a grenade and they fling themselves from cover like rats. 

"Damn, they tryna flush us out, Ri!" Butch shouts over the commotion. 

"I know--" she's cut off by the explosion of the sandbags that served as their barricades. She violently shakes her head; her hair is falling in her face again. Her eyes are burning as they stare at the mutants, as if she thinks she can shoot them down that way. Butch gets the one that threw the grenade in the head. Two more are already stepping over those comrades' bodies. A big, hulking brute raises his giant piece of concrete over his head and runs for them.

Riley shoves Butch, pushing him out the way and screaming for him to move, move, get!

"I'm hurrying!" He hollers. His boots kick up dust as he runs as fast as he can.

The mutant slams his weapon into the ground just behind their boots. The two of them leap farther ahead, now running down the pavement with Dogmeat. Riley whips around, pistol aimed, and turns the melee-wielding mutant into a pile of goo. 

The last one is a super mutant master, heavily armed with a fast-firing Chinese assault rifle. Riley scrunches up her mouth and dashes behind a tree. A little tap on Dogmeat's ear and the dog bites into the mutants leg. Riley and Butch both fire, bringing down the enemy together. 

They're both breathing heavily, guns limp in their tired hands. All the kids from the little town rush out and surround them and the dead mutant, clapping. 

"Here," Red says, through the cheering. "You've saved us all, thank you." She hands Riley a pouch of caps and beams at her. 

"That's it?" Butch's face turns into one of disgust as he eyes the pouch. 

"Well, I mean I have--" 

"No, no, this is enough. Thank you." Riley shoots a look at him after touching Red's arm.

Butch walks away from the celebration into the hot summer air and cracks his knuckles. If he could, he would light up a cigarette to ease the tension in his body, but he doesn't have a match or a cancer stick. He feels heavy. 

"Ready to go?" A light voice from behind him asks. It's her, Riley.

"Mm-hmm," Butch says. "But you can't just act like I'm doing everything wrong." He wants to slant himself against a wall, look real cool as he tells her off.

"What? Look, I'm sorry. Sometimes you need to be a little more understanding. I'm the one who's been in the Wasteland longer than you."

"Whatever. Let's just go to Rivet City. I need a drink."

"Oh, about that...I just wanna go home. And besides, it's Wednesday. Dogmeat and I watch movies on Wednesdays."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Butch mumbles under his breath and struts South, back towards Megaton.

"We can take the Metros to Rivet City tomorrow!" Riley calls out to him from behind.

* * *

"Wadsworth, I'm home!" Riley calls out, opening the door to her dark home.

"Ah, miss," the robot floats down the stairs. "Do you require anything?"

"No, that's alright. Tonight's movie night remember?"

"Yes, miss, I remember."

She flicks on the lights run by the small generator and rummages in her closet. "What do you wanna watch, Butch?" 

"Anything is fine. You got any snacks?" 

Riley wheels a large projector out into the living room and attaches it to the generator running in the corner. "There's a bunch of candy in the coffee tin in the kitchen, but don't..." Butch is already scurrying to get it. "Ugh don't eat anything just yet! Let me set up the holotape." 

"Man, this is what I'm talking about. Bossing me around."

"If I didn't boss you around, you'd be dead by mole rats somewhere." She tacks up a white sheet on the dark wall.

Butch scoffs, but doesn't say anything as he flops on the couch. 

Riley looks through her holotape collection while Butch picks at his teeth. 

" _Gone With the Wind_!" Riley exclaims, rising from her crouch. 

"Ugh, ain't that a love story or something?" Butch groans. 

"Well, what do you wanna watch?" She furrows her brows at him.

"Got anything scary?" He holds himself up on an elbow and grins.


	7. Seven

Butch suddenly feels nostalgic as Riley giggles and dances in the dull light of the projector. Back in the vault, whenever anyone gave the goody-two-shoes candy as a reward, she'd try hard to contain all that excitement from the sugar rush. She would sit across from him in Mr. Brotch's class, hands under her thighs, leg bouncing, biting her lip. She sure stirred up snickers, especially from Wally and Paul and him. He smiles as he watches her from the couch, feeling that same warm feeling as she spins around, red curls flying like gunfire and green eyes shut. He looks away, ignores the feeling, and goes back to watching the movie.

It's not long before she loses interest completely and Butch gets up and turns off the projector.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?" Riley asks, still, her chest rising and falling. 

"You ain't even paying attention. I'm going to bed, I'm tired anyway."

"Fine," Riley answered and turned away from him, crouching down to rub Dogmeat's fur and try to pick him up from the ground. Dogmeat kicked out his legs and squirmed in her grasp and she laughed, setting him back on the carpet and kissing his head. Butch went up the stairs and left Riley to the couch. 

* * *

 "Oh gosh," Riley mumbles, rising from the couch and putting her hand to her forehead. Pain bangs against her forehead and grows worse as she tries to get up. "Oh gosh, I had too much sugar last night, didn't I?" She says to herself. The half-empty candy jar stands on the coffee table in front of her. The white sheet is still tacked to the wall and she swings her legs to the ground and sits up, immediately feeling another shock of pain.

Butch comes down the stairs in a tight white shirt and his Vault 101 jumpsuit's sleeves tied around his waist. "Ready to go to Rivet City?" Riley looks up at his freshly combed and gelled hair and blue eyes staring down at her. Half of her wants to laugh at the way he stands on the stairs, patiently waiting for her.

She rubs her head. "No, not right now at least."

Butch throws his hands up in the air, "Really? But you promised you would."

"I'm sorry. I know I did. I'm not the one to break a promise. But I--I have a terrible headache." She knows what he's going to say. She knows he's going to roll his eyes and act all exasperated.

"You ate a bunch 'a candy last night, 'course you had a headache." He steps heavily on the last few steps, landing on the metal flooring and shaking his head. 

"I know I did, okay? Stop shoving it in my face." Furrowing her brows in anger somehow makes her headache feel better. 

"I'll shove it in your face just like you shoved that candy in your face." He goes to the kitchen and from Riley's position on the couch, she can see him downing a glass of Brahmin milk. _Her_ glass of Brahmin milk. She ignores his comment and stands, trying to steady herself as her vision blurs and the hot pounding in her head returns. She grimaces and makes her way over to him.

Even though she's in pain, she snatches the bottle from his mouth. Milk spills on the floor and the evidence of his drinking is left on his upper lip.

"Hey!" Butch shouts. Riley shoves it back into the fridge and slams the door. 

"Get ready and wait for me. I'll take you to stupid Rivet City."

He huffs in response and goes back up the stairs. Meanwhile, Riley cleans the milk from the floor. It only takes him a few minutes to get himself together, pulling up his jumpsuit and zipping it, wiping the milk mustache from his face, combing his hair one more time (just to be safe), and loading the 10mm pistol. He comes back down to join Riley in the living room.

She's ready to change: bag in hand, hair pulled into a low pony tail that does nothing for the feminine face of hers. She bypasses Butch as she makes her way up, but doesn't say anything.

She changes quickly also, slower than Butch because of her headache, but still quickly. She pretty much wears the same clothes everyday, her utility jumpsuit. It's not the best armor, or at least that's what Megaton's local merc Jericho would say, but it reminds her of home. The home that she's lost. She shakes her head, to shake the memories away and comes down the stairs slowly. Butch isn't in the living room and she immediately knits her brows and goes to search in the kitchen. Not there. She thinks to herself that maybe he left by himself, so impatient that he got tired of waiting for her. Riley licks her lips and breathes out. Maybe he's just somewhere in Megaton. 

She opens the door and peeps outside, and of course, there he is, leaning against the wall. He looks so cool leaning there, finally with a cigarette (those dang cigarettes that made the smoke alarms go off like crazy back in the vault) between his lips. He catches her gaze, her big green eyes and open mouth, the urgency in her stance with one hand on the doorknob and the other clenched at her side. 

"You good?" He asks leisurely. The little curl he so skillfully shapes falls a little onto his forehead and Riley feels this sudden rush of something heavy and familiar. Upon hearing his voice, she shakes her head once more and smiles. 

"Good." She's a little breathless and doesn't even know why. "Ready to head out? Metros are all in the city, so we gotta go there first."

"Yeah I'm good, let's go." He turned away from her and smashes his cigarette into the table beside him. "Remember to get Dogmeat. I don't know what that fleabag'd do if something happened to you and he wasn't there."

She disappears before responding, going to retrieve Dogmeat.

* * *

 

 "Watch out for the ghouls," Riley whispers to Butch. I've cleaned these tunnels out more than once, but they just seem to keep coming back." They step through the dark metros, only lighted by the yellow bulbs on the walls. The smell of mold and trash fill their noses. 

"Pssh, I can handle those things." He walks like a little boy, staring at the floor for traps like Riley told him to do. 

"Oh yeah, I remember how you handled them the first time you had to shoot at them." Butch gives Riley a playful shove and her small body moves sideways from the force, right into a bear trap. She falls, tripping over it, but the weapon chomps down on her pant leg, just scraping her skin. She looks up at Butch helplessly. Dogmeat barks.

"Oh damn, oh damn. Are you hurt?" He drops to the ground in front of her, eyes moving rapidly back and forth from the trap to her. 

"That knocked the wind out of me," she breaths in response. 

"I didn't mean to--I mean--Oh damn," his fingers gently close around her ankle. "It's got a good chunk of your jumpsuit in it." He looks her in the eyes, then back to her leg and suddenly pulls. He lets go of her leg and stands, looking at the trap with the blue piece of fabric stuck in its metal teeth. He wipes a hand across his forehead. 

"Maybe next time don't push me so hard." Riley stands and wipes her pants off.

"You're just such a shrimp. I wasn't pushing _that_ hard." He grins to show that he's joking. Riley only smiles a little bit and joins him on the side of the tracks where they were walking earlier.

There's a short silence, and then Riley speaks up again. "Why did you used to bully me? I mean I know you said sorry and all and I thank you for that, but I just wanna know." She doesn't look at him as she mumbles.

Butch feels abruptly trapped and his cheeks and face heat up. He rubs the back of his neck and looks down. "I don't know." But he does know. He's quick to bring his gaze up again and moves away from her a bit, closer to the wall. "It's in the past, ain't nothing to worry about anyways."

Riley isn't satisfied, not at all, and she stuffs her hands in the pockets of her jumpsuit. She picks up her pace to show him just how she feels about what he said. Butch lets out a sigh.

But she's so far ahead of him now. He looks around himself, feeling small and scared and jogs to catch up with her. They soon reach the end of the tunnel, light shining brightly on them through the small holes of the chain-link fence.


	8. Eight

There's familiarity in seeing the looming, former aircraft-carrier ahead of them. 

"Nothing like it," Butch breathes and has a sudden desire to reach out and place an arm around Riley, as if they're admiring their work, but he stifles it and walks ahead. He can already taste the whiskey on his lips as he stamps up the metal platform. He doesn't even cast a second glance at the beggar sitting in the corner, voice rough as he calls out. Butch knows Riley is stopping right now and bending down to pull a precious can of water out of her pack to hand to the man.

 "Oh, it's you again," the guard outside mutters, eyeing Butch. "What, no Raiders chasing you this time?" 

Butch just waits for Riley to catch up and rolls his eyes. He hands fumble with the door leading to the market and after trying for awhile, he finally gets it open.

And it's like a burst of a new world. There's the smell of the meat cooking from the blonde chef in the back, the yelling of vendors, the barking of the security chief giving orders. Butch likes it so much more than Megaton or the Wastes. 

Riley presses into his back and leans out, looking. She points over his shoulder at the chief of security, a guy who was intent on greeting Butch at the door and looking suspiciously at him, Harkness. 

"He's a synth, Butch. Stay away from him." Riley whispers.

"What the hell is a synth?" The two of the them go down the stairs, and this question earns a hush from Riley. 

"He's right in front of us," her breath is hot and fierce in his ear. _Pssh, whatever_ , Butch thinks. The girl is leaning all over him now, guiding him up the stairs and into the hotel run by a woman named Vera. She smiles at Riley, who finally disconnects herself from Butch's jacket.

"I kept it all safe for you, dear," the woman says. She holds out a rusty key for Riley to take. They return to the hall and Riley picks out a door and unlocks it. 

"Woah Ms. Bigbucks, you've got two houses?" Butch enters and looks around as he did before, and then, something catches his eye. Set up on a wall above a couch is the Tunnel Snakes jacket he gave to her before she left. It could use a few stitches in the arms, but it looks near-new sitting up there, the snake showing its fangs to whoever passes by. He tugs at his own jacket. He had to get a new one after he gave her his precious one. 

"Well, I don't own this one. I pay monthly payments on it and it's my home away from home," she laughs a little, then notices his fascination with the jacket on her wall. "Yeah, I kept that. But I never wear it, I'm afraid it'll get ruined." 

Butch feels warm at the thought and ducks his head. He hopes the warmth isn't the tell-tale sign of a blush on his cheeks. 

"You know, we need to go to the Citadel after this. That's where the Brotherhood is." She doesn't even seem to notice him. She picks up things around the hotel and fills Dogmeat's bowls with food and water. She's reverted back to talking business. 

Butch is silent for a moment, then speaks up, "I'm going to that bar." He expects her to say she'll come along, but she doesn't. She just says alright and he's left alone, trying to navigate his way around the big ship with its confusing passageways. 

He eventually reaches the Muddy Rudder and takes a stool at the bar. Trixie sits next to him.

"Hey, babe you're back. Spare a few caps? I know you just want to buy me a drink," she says. He gave in the first time because well, she had flirted with him. But this time just feels wrong. He doesn't understand why, just that he doesn't want this girl or her flirting near him anymore. 

"Nah, I'll pass," He mumbles and takes a sip of the watered-down whiskey he ordered. Just what he needed, it seems.

"Your loss." Trixie is gone and he's all alone with his thoughts. And the alcohol. 

* * *

"Alright, let's see. I got my sledgehammer, Stims, my plasma pistol..." Riley's voice fades as she becomes lost in thought. The journey to the Citadel will be long and the journeys after that. She knows. All of a sudden, she hears the door of the room open and looks up. It's Butch, looking sadder than she's ever seen him. She springs up, "Hey what's wrong?" 

She comforts him by placing a hand on his shoulder. He lowers his head and breathes out. Then finally gives in by edging closer to her. He wraps his arms slowly around her small frame and digs his chin into her shoulder. She does the same and brushes his hair.

"It's going to be alright." She doesn't even have to know what's up to comfort him. 

"You know," he mumbles. He almost feels like he's going to cry. "I just...I was really happy when I saw you in the vault. I was like 'wow, this girl made it, that means anyone can make it'." 

This earns a giggle from Riley as she rubs his back. Butch breaths slowly. She really gives the best hugs. They separate and she stares at him for a moment. "I was really happy when I saw you too." She pushes her hair out of her face and straightens suddenly. "Now enough of this mushy stuff, let's get to business."

She gave him some caps, and like he was a little kid, told him to go down and buy himself a new gun.

He came back minutes later with another 10mm in his hands. "Ugh, this thing's just as crappy as the other one." 

Riley sighed. "I can fix it. Just give me the old one too." 

Butch watched as she sat at the desk and fiddled with the weapons, taping and screwing pieces together, all the while sticking her tongue out. After she's done, she hands him the new 10mm. 

"It won't jam now," she says with a smile. 

He examines it, turning it around several times. Riley frowns as she watches him and reaches for it. 

"What's wrong with it? Come on, let me see." But Butch holds up his arm and blocks her view and her grasp. 

"Nothing, it's good." He tells her and drops his arm. "Man, the only good thing on this ship is the bar." 

"Well we're gonna leave soon, so don't worry." There's a look of annoyance on Riley's face. "We're going to the Citadel right after this, so do anything you need to do right now."

"Let me get some bottles for the road," Butch suddenly says and walks out the door. 

Exasperated, Riley throws her arms up in the air and grumbles: "I swear if he's drunk while we're walking." 


	9. Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1000 hits!! Thank you!!

The road to the Citadel is rocky, with Super Mutants and Raiders stopping them at every turn. Butch's hair is tousled by the time he and Riley approach the big steel doors. 

"I'm here to see Doctor Li," Riley says into the intercom. 

"Oh, you're the one from 101. She's waiting for you," a voice responds. The heavy doors open and Butch casts a look at Riley. She shrugs and tells him to follow. Inside, there are men and women in armor, walking about, and holding large guns. Butch stays close to Riley's back and follows her through a door and several hallways. 

They finally enter a room with a large robot in the middle and Riley hears Butch's 'woah' from behind her. 

"Cool, right?" She asks, turning around to look at him. "It was pretty shocking the first time I walked in here." 

"Damn, did they build that?" Butch asks.

"Ha, no the military did before the Great War. It was going to be used in getting Alaska back, but something went wrong. We just found it," a soldier says, smiling at the two of them.

Butch scratches the back of his head and stares up at the robot. 

"It's really something, yeah?" The soldier continues and then straightens as an old man comes toward Riley. He wears blue robes and has a long beard and places a hand on the Riley's shoulder.

"Scribe Rothchild is going to help you. Dr. Li has already talked with him. Everything's ready for you." The old man tells her.

She turns to face him, "Oh, thank you, Elder Lyons. I'll make sure to go to him now." And she grabs Butch's sleeve and tugs him along.

They don't even seem to question Butch as he wanders around. Everything catches his eye: the people in red robes and armor, the computers. He knows Riley's more into this stuff than he is, but it's all so different from anything he's ever seen. 

They meet a scribe standing in front of a large screen in the lower area of the large Citadel. 

"Oh, good, you're here. Remember when you told me the archives identified a GECK in one of the vaults nearby?" 

"Yes, I do." Riley plays with the strap of her bag. Her eyes are wide and she chews her lip. 

"Well, look here," he points to the screen. "Here's a whole map of vaults. And the one that has the GECK, Vault 87 is right here. But I'm afraid there's a problem."

Riley frowns.

"The radiation levels surrounding the entrance are practically lethal. There's only one other way to get in." He moves his finger along the map to a set of jagged lines. "A system of caverns called Little Lamplight could provide a back entrance into the Vault." He looks over at Riley for her reaction.

"Do you know what's in the cavern?" 

"Reports come back of children coming and going, but we're not sure." 

Butch looks up, eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Kids? Living in a cavern? I guess..."

The scribe looks at him as if seeing him for the first time. "Well, we don't know if it's true." His voice fades and he resumes a stance that says Riley and Co. should leave. She takes the cue, nods to him, and tells Butch to follow close.

* * *

"Ugh, there are so many bad guys around here. It's like we can't get a break," Butch whines as Riley and Dogmeat close in on the cavern.

"Hurry up," she whisper-calls to him. "They might see you." This gets him moving down into the entrance of the cavern with them.

"Okay, come on," Riley mumbles, creaking the door to the caverns open and passing through. Lights hang from the dim walls and eerie sounds can be heard seeping through the winding passages. She turns briefly to make sure Butch is still behind her. She places a hand on Dogmeat's head. The three of them finally come to a clearing with a barricade set up. 

"What the hell?" Butch mumbles. His confusion increases as a kid pops his head up from behind a low wall. He aims his gun at them and the two automatically step back, hands inching up.

"Stay right there, you mungos!" The kid narrows his eyes. "Stay right there or I'll shoot."

Butch moves forward a bit, "Mungos? This kid's crazy." But he's stopped in his track as the kid starts screaming again. 

"What did I just say? I'll shoot your right there where you stand." The kid raises the gun closer to his face.

"Butch..." Riley breathes and he gingerly returns to his spot, eyes on the kid. "We don't mean any trouble. We just need to get to Vault 87, yeah? Through here? I'm Riley," she points to herself and then to her companions, "this is Dogmeat. And this is Butch." 

The boy eyes Dogmeat, seemingly enthralled, but then shoots his gaze back to the two. "Yeah, but I can't let you two in. Maybe the dog, but not you two."

"Why not?" Riley asks. "We won't do anything to harm you."

"You're mungos, that's why! You aren't allowed in Little Lamplight and my job as mayor is to keep out adults like you."

"Adults? We're not adults. We're nineteen and that still makes us teenagers. We're just like you."

"You're nothing like me. Sixteen means you're a mungo and you're over sixteen. No deal, Ri-ley." 

Butch speaks up suddenly, hands on his hips. "Well, you know what? Your face looks like my butt!"

The kid immediately laughs and lowers the gun slightly. "You must like having such a good-looking butt then."

"You must like having such an ugly-looking face." Butch retorts. Dogmeat barks at all the yelling.  

"Is that what you say to yourself when you look in the mirror?"

"No, that's what you say to yourself!" Butch shouts, hands in fists. Riley places a hand on his shoulder gently, eyes worried. 

"Hey, Butch, that's enough. He's a kid." He folds his arms and shakes his head. He's about to scream something more until the mayor lowers the rifle completely, returning it to his back.

"You know, you're pretty funny for a mungo. I'll let both of you in. Just--don't do anything that would make me shoot you."

"Don't worry, we won't," Riley tells him, walking closer to the barricade. The mayor pulls a lever and the doors slide open, revealing more sets of passages. The boy clambers down the makeshift stairs and greets them.

"I'm Mayor MacCready and I run this place. Now what did you say about a Vault 87?" 

"We need to get in there," Riley tells him, straightening. 

"Yeah an old dude told us we had to go through here." Butch looks up from fiddling with some ammo and trinkets left on a nearby table. 

"Mmm-hmm. Well, there's two entrances. One is a door that leads straight into the vault, but the computer for it is shut down. The other is Murder Pass, and I'm sure you won't last in there. There are mutants in there that have been trouble. That's why no one is allowed in there."

"What about the computer?" Riley shifts her weight anxiously.

"You'll have to talk to Joseph about that, he's the one that handles all the tech things. He should be over by the door somewhere. Now is there anything else?"

"Nothing. We'll be on our way." Riley's hand finds the sleeve of Butch's jacket and she guides him down into one of the passages, Dogmeat behind them.


	10. Ten

Riley tries to count the little kids running under her feet, but loses track as they zip in and out of corridors in the cavern. She wants to stop every one that passes and offer to clean their clothes, their faces, something. She resists the urge and glances over at Butch. He looks completely bored, cleaning his nails with his switch blade as he walks. Riley cringes at the possibility of him running into something, and the blade stabbing...oh god, she can't even think about it. She shakes her head and he looks up suddenly, slight wrinkles in his forehead from his raised eyebrows.

Riley straightens her back and stares ahead at the wooden platforms. "We have to do this right, for the Brotherhood, for the Wasteland, for..." she pauses, "...my dad." 

He really just wants to wave her off and mutter _yeah yeah_ , but she brought up her dad. He straightens his posture too and slips the switchblade back into his pocket, flicking it closed. "I know."

"Good, because we've gotta come out of here with the GECK or it will all be for nothing."

He doesn't respond as they move closer to a vault door in the rock wall. A boy sits on the steps of a nearby makeshift house and looks up when they approach. "Oh, you're those two that Mac let in. I'm Joseph," he rises, sticking his hand out for them and offering a neutral expression. 

Riley raises her eyebrows at the boy, "How'd you know about us so quick?" She pauses briefly and grins, crouching down to his height, which isn't much less than hers.  "Are you some kind of psychic?" 

Neither a smile or a frown cross his face as he juts his thumb at the corridor. Riley and Butch look in its direction and notice kids wandering back and forth. "News gets around here fast. Took you two so long to get over here because you don't know they way yet, but, us, we could walk with our eyes closed." He pauses. "Of course, that would mean more scrapes and bruises which also means more kids for Lucy to patch up." 

"Oh, um...so you know why we're here, yeah?" Riley glances at her companions, looking for help she knows she won't get.

"Yes, you need to get into Vault 87. I can restore the power to the terminal, but I'm not able to hack it. You'll have to do that yourself." 

As Joseph goes to fiddle with the computer, Riley cracks her knuckles and thinks to herself, _I've got this_. He moves aside after he's done and offers it to her. _Just like old dad_ , Jonas would have said if he had been here to see her. She runs her tongue across her teeth to focus on the task at hand and finally lets her fingertips touch the keyboard. And it's like magic. She flies through the code until she reaches the password and presses enter. 

"Access granted," she mumbles to herself. She feels and sees the presence of Butch beside her, leaning over her to observe. A few more button presses and the heavy vault door whispers open. She looks up, a smile forcing her cheeks upwards and lowers her head when Butch raises his brows in dramatic surprise and mock pride. Their silence is interrupted by a cough from Joseph.

"Oh, look you got it open. I'm sure MacCready gave you the okay already so go ahead." Unsatisfied at the anti-climatic scene, he turns to fiddle with some electronic parts. 

"Thank you," Riley says quickly, waving, but the boy only looks up for a second, and then they're gone through the door. 

"Oh man," Butch looks around the reactor chamber wearily. "This brings back some memories, yeah, nosebleed?" He elbows Riley playfully and she touches her arm in the same spot, smiling a little. 

"Yeah," a sigh floats up from her and she signals for Dogmeat and Butch to follow her out into the hall. And then, all of a sudden, the signature deep voice of a Super Mutant stops the worried thoughts that are flowing in her head, and increases them. She groans, grits her teeth, and turns around to make sure Butch heard it too. He nods, mouth open and eyes wide and takes his pistol from his hip. 

Riley loads her plasma pistol and turns the corner quickly, firing blindly at the green shapes. The faster she gets this over with...And Butch follows suit behind her, soon leaving the hallways they pass through free of mutants and centaurs. They each pop some Rad-X when their Geiger Counters begin to tick.

"Are we going the right way?" Butch asks, trying desperately to catch up. There are winding halls everywhere he looks and he just needs a peek at Riley's Pip-Boy if she would stop moving. 

"Yes, we are..." her voice fades as they approach chamber-like rooms lined up on the walls. 

"It...smells over here," Butch wrinkles his nose and closes the space between his and Riley's shoulders. They move past the chambers and eye them from afar. Some are empty, all creep the two out enough that they don't even bother talking to the human inside one of the cells. They reach the end finally and the last is occupied by a Super Mutant. Butch jerks away, almost tripping over Dogmeat who gives a slight bark and nuzzles toward Riley's side.

"Don't be frightened of me. I know you must think bad of Super Mutants, but I am not like the ones out there," he points outside. "They've locked me in here because I have not fully lost myself like they have. Now, if you would let me out--"

"Don't do it, Ri. This freak's just gonna maul us to death once he's out." Butch shakes his head, a disgusted expression on his face. Riley doesn't respond, but moves closer to the chamber. 

"My name is Riley and I think I might need your help. I'm looking for something." 

"Well, I may know where it is. I am Fawkes." Butch raises his hands in the air and huffs. He backs into the wall and whistles for Dogmeat to join him. The dog turns his head at the noise but stands, panting at Butch. 

"The GECK? Isn't it somewhere in here?" Riley's small voice echoes through the hall.

"Oh yes, that. It is here, but it's in a room full of radiation. If you let me out, perhaps I can help." 

Seemingly without thinking, and without muttering a word, Riley spots the working terminal besides the chamber. And just like the one controlling the vault door, she races through it quickly until she hears a 'woosh.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, sorry for the long wait, next chapter something good is going to happen though!!


End file.
